The Official Political Thread.

[counterstrike]

WAR Alex Jones for taking on Bilderberg!

Jesus you guys. Alex Jones? Im saddened that you would buy into that nonsense Agonz. YOU are smarter than that.

I'm not an Alex Jones fan, but I do appreciate him trying to shed some light on the Bilderberg meeting; given all the problems in the U.S. and global economy, with constant bailouts and more waste and stupidity from the financial sector, the last thing we need is more backroom secrecy and dealing among the ultra rich and political and business leaders.

I also suspect that Agonz and I disagree on most politics, but I do have a lot of respect for Ron Paul. The guy is a principled leader, and one of the few politicians with the guts to call out the systemic cronyism between Washington, DC and Wall Street.

[MurderfaceMMA]

Mubarak gets life in prison for killing protesters. I wish this kind of thing would happen more often. Hopefully Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is next.

[agonzalez1]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju ... rty-occupy

But the protest marked the gathering of a diverse cross-section of contemporary US activist movements.

Chris McCarron stood outside the fence surrounding the Marriott with a 99% flag, an overt nod to the Occupy movement.

For McCarron, who participated in Occupy protests in Colorado, the motivation for attending the rally was simple: "A shadowy group of rich people gathering together, making their plans for the world; I'm not going to sit on my ass and let them do it. They're gonna hear my voice."

McCarton hoped the movements could find common ground and come together.

"It was funny, earlier today me and a Tea Party guy, we threw our arms over each other like 'Hey, here we are, we're working together on this."

"We're all kind of protesting the same thing, just different segments of it," he said. "Whenever we can we should get together."

[IKnowuWannaBeMe]

Clearly, a video of a bad teacher proves all teachers should be fired immediately. Science at work...

Is this how you interpreted my post? All teachers should be fired?

Exactly how it should be interpreted, especially the comment about "One of those wonderful teachers we've been hearing about" will obviously be taken to mean, you are relating her behaviour to all teachers. I've had shitty teachers in my life too, but that doesn't inspire me to come to the conclusion that teachers don't deserve to be paid well. Which is something you obviously believe by your post.

Correction, I think they are paid very well. No need for more though. More money would make them overpaid.

Overpaid? Teachers do not make nearly enough money. So its okay for CEO's of corporations to make millions of dollars a year but you think that teachers making what? 35-45k a year is being paid very well? Wow you have it all mixed up. Teachers have a huge responsibility to teach young people the foundations that will lead them for the rest of their lives. Teachers are severely underpaid, their retirement is crap and insurance is horrible.

[TheAssassin]

[jjmmajkd]

i dont know why it matters this country is already fucked beyond repair

+1

+2

[MurderfaceMMA]

Overpaid? Teachers do not make nearly enough money. So its okay for CEO's of corporations to make millions of dollars a year but you think that teachers making what? 35-45k a year is being paid very well? Wow you have it all mixed up. Teachers have a huge responsibility to teach young people the foundations that will lead them for the rest of their lives. Teachers are severely underpaid, their retirement is crap and insurance is horrible.

Corporate CEOs are highly educated and brilliant at making money, which is why they are paid so much. Teachers dont make money, therefore companies arent going to pay them millions of dollars. Teachers are also paid by the tax payers, while privately owned businesses are the ones paying the CEOs salary, so that is not a good comparison at all.

If a company thinks paying one man a fuck load of money is a good idea, why should anyone stop them? They made the money, and they are free to blow it on lollipops for all i care. The free market has a way of weeding out companies that make bad business moves, and if paying CEOs large sums of money isnt a good investment, there will be consequences. Why not let the market decide?

For the record, 35-45K isnt a bad salary, especially when you consider how much time off they have year round. Its a pretty good gig really.

[TheAssassin]

Ff paying CEOs large sums of money isnt a good investment, there will be consequences. Why not let the market decide?

Your post is bad and you should feel bad.

If you notice your kitchen is on fire, do you wait to see the "consequences," before you deem it a problem and put it out?

Yeah, instead of thinking rationally from the beginning, let's just completely really on uncontrollable consequences to tell us if something's wrong.

[KC Masterpiece]

That kind of slavish attitude to the market is the most ridiculous and counter-evolutionary behavior in the history of humankind.

[IKnowuWannaBeMe]

Overpaid? Teachers do not make nearly enough money. So its okay for CEO's of corporations to make millions of dollars a year but you think that teachers making what? 35-45k a year is being paid very well? Wow you have it all mixed up. Teachers have a huge responsibility to teach young people the foundations that will lead them for the rest of their lives. Teachers are severely underpaid, their retirement is crap and insurance is horrible.

Corporate CEOs are highly educated and brilliant at making money, which is why they are paid so much. Teachers dont make money, therefore companies arent going to pay them millions of dollars. Teachers are also paid by the tax payers, while privately owned businesses are the ones paying the CEOs salary, so that is not a good comparison at all.

If a company thinks paying one man a fuck load of money is a good idea, why should anyone stop them? They made the money, and they are free to blow it on lollipops for all i care. The free market has a way of weeding out companies that make bad business moves, and if paying CEOs large sums of money isnt a good investment, there will be consequences. Why not let the market decide?

For the record, 35-45K isnt a bad salary, especially when you consider how much time off they have year round. Its a pretty good gig really.

Hmmm so CEO's are highly educated you say? I wonder how they became educated? By teachers thats how. Its a complete travesty that teachers have to get summer jobs to help compensate their salaries. Do you honestly think 35-45k is a good salary these days? If your single and have no bills yea its a decent salary. However if your married and God forbid have children, thats pennies. Sorry but without our teachers, we would not have a lot of these big CEO's. Its a fair comparison.

I guess I am biased because my brother is a teacher and its pathetic how little they get paid for what they are responsible for. Its just like law enforcement, they get paid pennies compared to what they are responsible for. Saying a CEO deserves more money than a teacher is ignorant. The teachers in the US need to be paid A LOT more. Let me know if teachers are important if you have kids and they need to learn in school.

[TheAssassin]

Teachers need to be paid a lot more, but there should also never be "bad teachers." How many kids get screwed when it comes to math and science teachers, then say they "hate" the subjects just because they're bad at it and behind in later years? Teachers need to be logical and passionate, not textbook drones. They need to encourage personal reading far more than it's being encouraged now. I know many, many people who are honours chemistry or physics majors and who don't know when world war 2 ended. Why? Because they were taught to get a good grade and move on. Learning the material and getting a good grade are actually different from knowing the material. I remember in highschool, you learned one thing in chemistry and then in university, "lol throw that out of your head, it's wrong." Wtf. Or if you ask your teacher why you can't divide by 0, "that's not in the curriculum." That's not teaching it's mindless repetition with garbage results, which we'll probably see soon enough.


/end failure of an education system rant

[Lsquared]

Overpaid? Teachers do not make nearly enough money. So its okay for CEO's of corporations to make millions of dollars a year but you think that teachers making what? 35-45k a year is being paid very well? Wow you have it all mixed up. Teachers have a huge responsibility to teach young people the foundations that will lead them for the rest of their lives. Teachers are severely underpaid, their retirement is crap and insurance is horrible.

Corporate CEOs are highly educated and brilliant at making money, which is why they are paid so much. Teachers dont make money, therefore companies arent going to pay them millions of dollars. Teachers are also paid by the tax payers, while privately owned businesses are the ones paying the CEOs salary, so that is not a good comparison at all.

If a company thinks paying one man a fuck load of money is a good idea, why should anyone stop them? They made the money, and they are free to blow it on lollipops for all i care. The free market has a way of weeding out companies that make bad business moves, and if paying CEOs large sums of money isnt a good investment, there will be consequences. Why not let the market decide?

For the record, 35-45K isnt a bad salary, especially when you consider how much time off they have year round. Its a pretty good gig really.

meh i could rattle off dozens of ceos that were incompetent and failed but were still awarded giant sums of money and golden parachutes beyond ones imagination...

its systemic and at this point the disparity in pay between top level execs/upper management/ and everyone else is so obscene, its almost insulting to the individual, except for the overpaid, inept, derelict, chief executive.

[50calReaper]

Overpaid? Teachers do not make nearly enough money. So its okay for CEO's of corporations to make millions of dollars a year but you think that teachers making what? 35-45k a year is being paid very well? Wow you have it all mixed up. Teachers have a huge responsibility to teach young people the foundations that will lead them for the rest of their lives. Teachers are severely underpaid, their retirement is crap and insurance is horrible.

Corporate CEOs are highly educated and brilliant at making money, which is why they are paid so much. Teachers dont make money, therefore companies arent going to pay them millions of dollars. Teachers are also paid by the tax payers, while privately owned businesses are the ones paying the CEOs salary, so that is not a good comparison at all.

If a company thinks paying one man a fuck load of money is a good idea, why should anyone stop them? They made the money, and they are free to blow it on lollipops for all i care. The free market has a way of weeding out companies that make bad business moves, and if paying CEOs large sums of money isnt a good investment, there will be consequences. Why not let the market decide?

For the record, 35-45K isnt a bad salary, especially when you consider how much time off they have year round. Its a pretty good gig really.

meh i could rattle off dozens of ceos that were incompetent and failed but were still awarded giant sums of money and golden parachutes beyond ones imagination...

its systemic and at this point the disparity in pay between top level execs/upper management/ and everyone else is so obscene, its almost insulting to the individual, except for the overpaid, inept, derelict, chief executive.

Yeah haha, as if all CEOs are these individuals with unmatched intellect and straightforward business practices. Give me a break; they're all a bunch of ass-kissing, narcissistic assholes, that will step on anybody's head just to move up a peg on the financial ladder. Of course there's a select few that aren't like this, but the big time business men are all a bunch of greedy bastards that aren't satisfied with 3 billion dollars. Oh no, they have to make 3 billion more, even if it means completely wiping out the middle class and reducing the majority of the population down to minimum wage jobs and bullshit social security taxes that won't mean a thing by the time the younger working generation gets to retirement. In this country now, you're either filthy rich, or struggling financially each month.

That's a decent amount for my first post in this thread, but it isn't even the tip of the iceberg of what is wrong with this country...

[counterstrike]

Overpaid? Teachers do not make nearly enough money. So its okay for CEO's of corporations to make millions of dollars a year but you think that teachers making what? 35-45k a year is being paid very well? Wow you have it all mixed up. Teachers have a huge responsibility to teach young people the foundations that will lead them for the rest of their lives. Teachers are severely underpaid, their retirement is crap and insurance is horrible.

Corporate CEOs are highly educated and brilliant at making money, which is why they are paid so much. Teachers dont make money, therefore companies arent going to pay them millions of dollars. Teachers are also paid by the tax payers, while privately owned businesses are the ones paying the CEOs salary, so that is not a good comparison at all.

If a company thinks paying one man a fuck load of money is a good idea, why should anyone stop them? They made the money, and they are free to blow it on lollipops for all i care. The free market has a way of weeding out companies that make bad business moves, and if paying CEOs large sums of money isnt a good investment, there will be consequences. Why not let the market decide?

For the record, 35-45K isnt a bad salary, especially when you consider how much time off they have year round. Its a pretty good gig really.

meh i could rattle off dozens of ceos that were incompetent and failed but were still awarded giant sums of money and golden parachutes beyond ones imagination...

its systemic and at this point the disparity in pay between top level execs/upper management/ and everyone else is so obscene, its almost insulting to the individual, except for the overpaid, inept, derelict, chief executive.

Exactly.

And if only, these banks were acting entirely "free" of any government help. The truth is, too big to fail banks, like JP Morgan Chase, are basically out there taking massive and risky positions in capital markets allowing them to make tonnes of money (to pay their CEOs) but also losing tonnes of money too, as we saw with JP Morgan.

And they can take these massive risky positions, because they are fucking around with their depositors' money, which are federally insured. That is, the money that average joes and janes deposited in Chase Manhattan Bank (a retail / commercial lending bank that is now merged with JP Morgan) is backed up by federal taxpayers if JP Morgan Chase lose so much money they can't back up those deposits.

In other words, these investment banks make a tonnes of money playing around by someone else's money, which is backed up and insured by taxpayers.

This is the furthest thing from the "free market".

A strong version of the Volcker Rule-- if it ever gets passed and is not gutted by lobbyists and regulator-- would prevent investment banks from investing federally insured funds. Even better, is updated version of Glass Steagall Act (passed during the Great Depression but repealed in 2000) which prevented mergers between investment banks like JP Morgan and traditional commercial banks like Chase ManHattan-- avoiding bailouts and too big to fail.

[50calReaper]

Overpaid? Teachers do not make nearly enough money. So its okay for CEO's of corporations to make millions of dollars a year but you think that teachers making what? 35-45k a year is being paid very well? Wow you have it all mixed up. Teachers have a huge responsibility to teach young people the foundations that will lead them for the rest of their lives. Teachers are severely underpaid, their retirement is crap and insurance is horrible.

Corporate CEOs are highly educated and brilliant at making money, which is why they are paid so much. Teachers dont make money, therefore companies arent going to pay them millions of dollars. Teachers are also paid by the tax payers, while privately owned businesses are the ones paying the CEOs salary, so that is not a good comparison at all.

If a company thinks paying one man a fuck load of money is a good idea, why should anyone stop them? They made the money, and they are free to blow it on lollipops for all i care. The free market has a way of weeding out companies that make bad business moves, and if paying CEOs large sums of money isnt a good investment, there will be consequences. Why not let the market decide?

For the record, 35-45K isnt a bad salary, especially when you consider how much time off they have year round. Its a pretty good gig really.

meh i could rattle off dozens of ceos that were incompetent and failed but were still awarded giant sums of money and golden parachutes beyond ones imagination...

its systemic and at this point the disparity in pay between top level execs/upper management/ and everyone else is so obscene, its almost insulting to the individual, except for the overpaid, inept, derelict, chief executive.

Exactly.

And if only, these banks were acting entirely "free" of any government help. The truth is, too big to fail banks, like JP Morgan Chase, are basically out there taking massive and risky positions in capital markets allowing them to make tonnes of money (to pay their CEOs) but also losing tonnes of money too, as we saw with JP Morgan.

And they can take these massive risky positions, because they are fucking around with their depositors' money, which are federally insured. That is, the money that average joes and janes deposited in Chase Manhattan Bank (a retail / commercial lending bank that is now merged with JP Morgan) is backed up by federal taxpayers if JP Morgan Chase lose so much money they can't back up those deposits.

In other words, these investment banks make a tonnes of money playing around by someone else's money, which is backed up and insured by taxpayers.

This is the furthest thing from the "free market".

A strong version of the Volcker Rule-- if it ever gets passed and is not gutted by lobbyists and regulator-- would prevent investment banks from investing federally insured funds. Even better, is updated version of Glass Steagall Act (passed during the Great Depression but repealed in 2000) which prevented mergers between investment banks like JP Morgan and traditional commercial banks like Chase ManHattan-- avoiding bailouts and too big to fail.

I agree completely. It's like a guy who won 5 million dollars is thrown into a casino and then told "Oh don't worry, if you go bankrupt, we'll help you out" Of course that person is going to make reckless decisions, because he'll have to accountability. Accountability is a very powerful thing, and these big banks have none. Having a bank fail is a lot better than what is going on now.